There is often a need to enhance area lumination by using portable lighting products. One such portable lighting product is a worklight, which may be used in various settings needing light in small spaces, including, but not limited to, repair settings such as an automotive repair shop, construction settings, and other areas where no electrical outlet exists. These conventional worklights are often in a form that may be handheld or hung from a suitable elevated object.
Conventional worklights that have been in use include incandescent worklights and fluorescent worklights. Incandescent worklights provide some concerns when used in particular circumstances. Since worklights are typically used in small areas or are hung from an elevated object, the worklights may be bumped and fall. When an incandescent worklight is bumped or falls, the bulb and/or the filament can easily break, thereby making the incandescent worklight inoperable. Additionally, if the bulb breaks when being used within a flammable area, the hot filament may cause nearby flammable material to ignite and cause a fire hazard.
Although fluorescent worklights have advantages over incandescent worklights, namely, greater energy efficiency and a reduced hazard of igniting flammable materials if they fall, these fluorescent worklights suffer a similar disadvantage as incandescent worklights, for example, potentially causing a fire hazard when broken. Although there is a reduced hazard of igniting flammable materials when the worklight falls or is dropped, there is a hazard nonetheless. Fluorescent bulbs are better protected from breaking, but can still break when impacted on a hard surface. The hot electrodes within an operating fluorescent bulb may ignite nearby flammable materials when exposed during a fall.
More recently, LED worklights have been used because of certain advantages over incandescent and fluorescent worklights. LED worklights are better suitable for remaining intact after a fall. Furthermore, light source of LED worklights operate at a much lower operating temperature than the light sources of incandescent and fluorescent worklights. Thus, these lower operating temperatures are less likely to cause fires in the event of an LED worklight falling and breaking. Moreover, LED worklights provide for increased power savings when compared to incandescent and fluorescent worklights having similar lumination wattages.
One form of the conventional LED worklight is a LED stick light, where an LED array is coupled to a circuit board and mounted within a narrow hollow tube, which is at least partially transparent. The LED stick light can include a hook at one end to hang the stick light from an elevated object. These LED stick lights, however, have certain drawbacks associated with them. One drawback is that the LED stick light has a small base and is unstable during use when placed on a flat surface. A further drawback is that the LED stick light can be mounted to only one surface when using a magnet. Yet, another drawback is that the lens/transparent cover is capable of being damaged during storage or use. An additional drawback to the LED stick light is that the light output is focused only in a single small area and may be varied only by turning the entire LED light stick.
Further drawbacks to the LED stick light are associated with the sticklight's hook. One drawback is that the hook is non-retractable. The non-retractable hook can interfere with nearby objects and potentially be damaged when using and/or storing the LED stick light. Another drawback is that the hook is rigid and therefore dependent on the physical size and shape of the hook and the objects upon which the hook can engage for support. In many applications, there are typically multiple objects available near the intended area of illumination that could potentially be used to support a worklight. However, the limitations of the rigid or semi-rigid hook designs preclude their use.